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Begone, Demon Internet: Vodafone to shutter old-school pioneer ISP

It was still going?

Exclusive Vodafone has confirmed it will shutter Demon Broadband, the pioneering Iron Age ISP, as part of its network upgrade plans.

Demon has around 15,000 business customers who will be migrated to the more modern Vodafone services over 60 days, or longer if the extraction process is hairy.

Demon wasn't the UK's first ISP, but it was one of the first consumer dial-up internet service that enthusiasts in the UK experienced – back when we were feverishly excited about Gopher.

Founded in 1992 after a whip-round on beardie bore board CiX, founder Cliff Stanford sold the operation to Scottish Telecom for £66m in 1998, which then became Thus. Cable and Wireless gobbled up Thus a decade later, and in turn Vodafone acquired C&W in 2012.

Customers reported being gently prodded towards Vodafone when it gave the free email service the heave-ho in 2016. Voda's packages start from £16.67 per month for a combined Vodafone Business Broadband & landline package, or £18.67 per month for just the broadband.

A Vodafone spokesperson told us: "Turning off our legacy technologies is a critical to ensure we are investing for the future, reducing our energy costs and making sure our customers are able to take advantage of the latest broadband services. We would like to thank all our loyal customers of Demon Broadband and we very much hope they stay with us." ®

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